


Take Care of Him (Christmas Interlude)

by bovaria



Series: Take Care of Him [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dad!Dean, Fluff, Other, Uncle!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:23:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5813983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bovaria/pseuds/bovaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean makes sure that Jake enjoys his first Christmas with the Winchesters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Care of Him (Christmas Interlude)

Dean glanced at the rearview mirror, eyes meeting Jake’s. “So, kid, what do you and your mom do for Christmas?” This was the first year that Jake would be spending Christmas with the Winchesters and Dean wanted to make it special for him, make up for what he hadn’t gotten to do while he was growing up.

“Oh, my mom and I make gingerbread cookies!” Jake squealed excitedly. “And-and she makes hot chocolate and we put on our onesie pajamas and watch Rudolph! She reads me a special Christmas story before going to bed and then, then we open presents in the morning! She puts them under-under the tree!”

“Do you and her decorate the tree?” Dean grinned, knowing where to go now. He was about to go to the grocery store with Jake when he had the idea of asking him about Christmas and the traditions that you shared with him.

“Yes!” Jason screeched, clapping his hands. “She-she lets me choose whatever decorations I want and after-after being done, we sit on the couch and mommy sings me Christmas songs!”

“That sounds great, kiddo!” Dean grinned. “What do you say you and I go buy a Christmas tree?”

“Yes!”

“Awesome!” Dean laughed along with Jake, looking forward to the day. Sam had remained behind reading a book, letting Dean have quality time with his son, and Dean was planning on taking advantage of the day to show Jake just how much he had come to love him.

After a few minutes, Dean pulled up to a small lot where pine trees were being sold and parked towards the back of the parking lot. He chuckled as he helped a jumpy, thrilled Jake out of the car and took his hand. “Alright, buddy, choosing the tree will be your responsibility. Are you ready?”

“Yeah!” Jake’s tiny fist shot in the air before he was running towards the trees, dragging Dean with him.

It didn’t take long for a tree to mesmerize Jake and soon, Dean was thanking one of the employees for helping him haul the pine up on Baby’s rooftop. He grimaced at the thought of the branches scratching the paint job, but then Jake clapped his hands excitedly and hugged him, and Dean was convinced that he would do anything to make Jacob happy.

“Alright, next thing we need, kiddo, will be the decorations,” Dean announced as he turned the key and the engine roared to life.

“Oh, are we going to those giant Christmas stores?” Jake gasped.

“That’s exactly where we’re going!” Dean grinned widely.

It was hard to keep track of Jake as he ran around the store, ricocheting from one aisle to another one, squealing at every decoration he saw and begging Dean to take everything he could get his little hands on. Dean sighed, but still felt himself smile as he decided to indulge Jake and agreed to purchase everything possible, even the ugly Christmas sweaters that Jake chose for him, Dean, and Sam to wear.

“Dad, we have to take pictures,” Jake turned towards him, voice earnest. “So that we can show mommy when she comes back!”

Dean felt his heart sink, but he concealed his pained expression and nodded at Jake. “Alright, kid, we’ll take pictures. Although, you’ll have to convince your Uncle Sam.”

“I will!” Jake grinned, before tossing in a few more tree decorations.

“Jake, don’t you think we have enough things?” Dean chuckled nervously at the full cart.

Jake turned to look at the shopping cart pensively, finger on his chin and eyes squinting as he surveyed what he had chosen. “Yeah, you’re right, dad! Let’s go,” he waved Dean over as he began to walk towards the registers and Dean rolled his eyes. He was reminded of you and how bossy you always were when Dean decided to go shopping with you for whatever reason. Sometimes you would need an outfit to go undercover for a case and you’d drag Dean along with you, leading the way and expecting him to follow. Dean smiled at the memory before focusing on placing all of the Jake’s purchases on the conveyor belt.

“Thank you, dad!” Jake leaned up to kiss Dean’s cheek as Dean buckled him in. Jake had happily helped Dean in putting the bags in the trunk once they had exited the shop.

“No problem, kid,” Dean smiled, pressing a quick peck on Jake’s forehead. He climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking spot. Dean reached towards the dashboard and turned on the radio, raising the volume.

He bopped his head to the music, lips mouthing the lyrics as he tapped his fingers rhythmically on the steering wheel. Jake’s squeal made him jump. “Oh, dad, dad!”

“Jesus, kid! Don’t scare me like that!” he chastised him.

“Sorry,” Jake mumbled before forgetting he had given Dean the scare of his life and clapping his hands enthusiastically. “Mommy sang me that song!”

“Did she now?” Dean raised a brow as he recognized Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.”

“Yes! She sang it to me whenever I couldn’t sleep,” Jake said. “Her voice is so pretty!”

“I know,” Dean shared a smile with Jake as they met looks through the rearview mirror. “She used to sing all the time to me.”

* * *

_It was your last night with Jake and although you were trying your hardest to act as if nothing, you still didn’t let him sleep in his own bed. You held him close once you had gotten Jake into his pajamas and got into bed with him, wrapping the both of you with the bed sheets. You pressed a kiss to Jake’s forehead and with a quivering smile, stroke back his hair and began to sing._

_The lyrics to “Simple Man” came easily to you, after all it was one of Dean’s favorite song. The lyrics contained advice you wanted Jake to follow and you always sang it to him whenever he couldn’t sleep, holding him close and trying to etch the words permanently into his soul._

_“Promise me, baby,” you whispered as you bopped his tiny nose, smiling at his giggle. “That you’ll always remember me when you hear this song.”_

_“I promise, mommy,” he placed a hand on your cheek, leaning forward to press a kiss to the place right beneath your eye. You wrapped your arms around him and squeezed as tightly as you could without hurting him, momentarily giving in to the raw pain that you felt at the thought of leaving your son behind. Jake buried his face into your neck and you found yourself singing the lyrics once again, repeating it until he fell fast asleep in your embrace._

* * *

“Whoa, what’s going on here?” Sam emerged from the bunker as Dean and Jake climbed out of the Impala.

“Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam, dad and I bought a Christmas tree!” Jake sprinted towards Sam, who caught him in his arms and laughed.

“Really, now? That’s awesome, little man!” Sam grinned, shooting Dean a questioning look. Dean answered with a shrug and a request for help to get the tree off the car’s roof.

“Alright, Jake, you’re going to carry a few bags into the bunker while your uncle helps me get the tree inside,” Dean ordered Jake with a gentle voice.

“Okay, dad,” the kid replied with a wide smile, skipping to the car as Sam let him down and grabbing as many bags as his little hands could hold.

“You’re perfecting that dad voice, bro,” Sam teased as helped Dean bring the pine tree down. Dean rolled his eyes, but didn’t bother to hide his smile as Jake ran into the bunker, arms laden with shopping bags. “What’s with all of this?”

“I want to give the kid a nice Christmas, Sammy,” Dean explained as they carried the tree into the bunker and began to slowly descend the stairs. “It’s his first Christmas and Y/N isn’t here to celebrate it with him, I think we should do something he’ll remember.”

“Sounds great, man,” Sam said sincerely, smiling at Dean before grunting and setting the tree down on a stand that Jake had quickly fetched from one of the many bags he had brought into the bunker.

They spent the next few hours decorating the tree, Sam and Dean alternating on picking up Jake in order to help him decorate the top section. In his excitement, Jake almost dropped the star topper, but Sam managed to catch it just in time and handed it back to his nephew. Dean did the honors of hoisting Jake up in the air as he placed the decoration on the tip of the tree, clapping his hands in glee as Sam turned on the lights and the tree seemed to burst to life.

“Alright, so I’m thinking we make hot chocolate, get into our ugly sweaters, take pictures, and sing some Christmas carols!” Dean grinned widely, clapping his hands and rubbing his palms together.

“Yeah!” Jake’s arms shot up in the air before he was running towards the kitchen, trailed by Dean and Sam, who exchanged elated smiles.

They drank hot chocolate while sitting down on the couch and looking at the twinkling lights on the tree. Dean and Jake both grumbled and complained about how itchy the ugly sweaters were while Sam shook his head and clicked his tongue at them. Two pairs of green eyes glared back at him and Sam went back to sipping his own drink and ignoring them.

They sang Christmas carols until their voices were hoarse, Dean grabbing his phone and taking as many pictures as he could while Jake made the silliest faces he could muster. At one point, they were all laughing so hard that Sam had to bring napkins from the kitchen to wipe away their tears.

Eventually, Jake fell asleep with his head on Dean’s lap and his legs on Sam’s. The Winchesters smiled down at the five-year old and quietly marveled at how drastically their lives had changed in less than a year. After an hour or so, Dean scooped Jake up in his arms and took him to his room, tucking him in despite Sam’s insistence that Jake should be woken up to brush his teeth and get into his pajamas.

“Relax, Sammy, he’ll be fine,” Dean laughed softly, leaning down to kiss his son’s forehead before stepping out of the room with Sam.

* * *

Christmas shopping proved quite hard for Sam and Dean as they realized that Jake’s wish list was longer than they had imagined. The kid wanted everything he saw on television and he wrote Santa a wordy letter on why he had been a good boy that made both men feel for him.

They ended up buying him enough presents to fill up the room they had assigned as Jake’s playroom and Dean could only laugh heartily at Jake’s face when he woke up Christmas morning to see all the presents under the tree.

“Dad!” he wrapped arms around Dean, who kneeled down and embraced Jake tightly. “Thank you, you’re the best dad ever!”

“Hey, where’s my hug, kid?” Sam stepped into the room, scoffing down at Jake playfully.

“Thank you, Uncle Sam!” Jake pulled away from Dean to run into Sam’s outstretched arms, giggling as Sam momentarily tickled him.

Jake spent the next two hours opening and squealing excitedly over his presents, begging both his dad and uncle to play a few minutes with each toy that he unwrapped. Eventually, he put the two brothers to duel with makeshift Jedi swords and soon the three of them were running around the bunker’s hallways laughing and trying to off one another. It wasn’t until both Winchesters let Jake win by pretending to not see him coming that they finally finished opening Jake’s last presents.

Jake was over the roof excited at all of his new toys, hugging Dean and Sam multiple times throughout the day and kissing their cheeks. Once all of the wrappings were cleaned up and Jake’s playthings were put away in his room, the three of them walked into the kitchen where Dean had everything ready to make gingerbread cookies.

“You’re going to bake?” Sam approached Dean and asked in a soft voice.

“Shut up,” Dean held up a finger to Sam’s face, who could only bite his lower lip in order not to crack up. Dean rolled his eyes at him before turning towards Jake. “Alright, Jake, you ready?”

“Yeah!” Jake nodded eagerly and they began to prepare the dough for the cookies.

It took a few batches for them to finally get the cookies a perfect shade of brown and after that, they had to let the cookies cool. Jake kept checking the timer and Dean successfully distracted him by taking him to his room and playing one of Jake’s new video games.

They spent the rest of the day icing the cookies, decorating them with ugly Christmas sweaters and different expressions. They were a general mess, but Dean and Jake ended up wrestling each other, trying to put icing on each other’s faces until Sam had to separate them and grumble about how someone had to clean the kitchen after. They retaliated by smothering Sam’s face with red icing, which spurred on a full-out battle between them.

Once they had all taken showers and gotten into their pajamas, Jake ran into Dean’s room and cuddled up to his dad. “Tell me a Christmas story, dad!” he pouted up at him, reminding Dean of Sam’s puppy dog eyes.

“Alright, let’s see if I can find one,” Dean ruffled Jake’s hair before unlocking his phone and googling Christmas tales.

Jake fell asleep with his head on Dean’s chest and his voice narrating the story of how an outcast reindeer had become Santa’s favorite one. Dean smiled down at Jake softly, swiping a few strands of hair from his face and making a mental note to take the boy to the barber shop the next chance he got. He pressed a kiss to his cheek and turned off the lights, lulling himself to sleep with the sound of Jake’s soft breaths.


End file.
